Bihar Assembly adopts Appropriation Bill (four) 2010

Piloting the Appropriation Bill, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who also holds the Finance portfolio, said of the Rs 2595.48 crore proposed under non-plan head, a sum of Rs 1150 crore was to be directed to state contingency fund.

Earlier, the House also adopted the budgetary demands of agriculture department, totalling over Rs 384 crore after rejecting the cut motion moved by Faiyaz Ahmed (RJD).
Replying to the debate, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh said foodgrain production increased ever since the NDA took the reins of Bihar in November 2005.

The government had set a production target of 184.15 lakh metric tonnes of foodgrain in the next fiscal for which a number of incentives were being provided to farmers, he said. The state government had prepared an agriculture road map, under which a farmer could be the owner of a power tiller costing Rs 1.30 lakh by paying half the money while the rest amount would be borne by the government.

Singh blamed the railway and agriculture ministry for the shortage of fertiliser in the state. The quota of fertiliser was lying at different ports as the railway did not provide the rakes for lifting the state's quota.

Singh said the government had already announced that the farmers would have to pay just four per cent interest on the loans taken by them for agriculture purposes and the state government would pay the residual interest.

A fortnight-long agriculture fair would be organised at district and sub-division levels from December where the farmers would be provided agricultural inputs and equipment at half the price, the minister said. The budgetary demands of 46 other departments were guillotined.

Giving details of the Bill, Modi said Rs 360 crore had been earmarked for Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) under the resource gap head and another Rs 300 crore had been proposed for providing monetary benefits to the "helpless and physically challenged" persons.

Modi said a sum of Rs 285 crore had been proposed for providing diesel subsidy and other help to the farmers in the state in the event of scanty rainfall during monsoon. The state government had earmarked funds under different other heads, including Rs 101.48 crore for zila parishads and panchayat samities, Rs 91.30 crore for payment of revised salaries of government employees, Rs 74.37 crore for payment of due salaries of the employees of Lauriya and Sugauli Sugar Mills, Rs 51.46 crore for the upcoming panchayat elections among others.